An autonomous vehicle is a vehicle that is capable of sensing its environment and navigating with little or no user input. It does so by using sensing devices such as radar, lidar, image sensors, and the like. Autonomous vehicles further use information from global positioning systems (GPS) technology, navigation systems, vehicle-to-vehicle communication, vehicle-to-infrastructure technology, and/or drive-by-wire systems to navigate the vehicle.
While recent years have seen significant advancements in autonomous vehicles, such vehicles might still be improved in a number of respects. For example, while autonomous driving systems are capable of quickly providing appropriate brake control commands to the vehicle's brake system—particularly during emergency braking situations—it might be advantageous in some applications to provide additional, redundant braking systems.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide improved brake systems and methods for autonomous vehicles. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.